


Naked Attraction

by glitterlarries



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Actor Louis, Ex Lovers to Lovers, Fluff, Louis POV, M/M, Nudity, Reality TV, dating show, past relationship, this is an actual TV show can u believe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-10 06:50:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7834516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitterlarries/pseuds/glitterlarries
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>It’s just… It’s just that Louis recognises those feet, he thinks. And those long legs. And the thighs, too. And… okay, yeah, he definitely recognises the-</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Louis goes on Channel 4's new dating show which involves choosing a partner based on how attractive you find their naked body. Harry just so happens to be one of the contestants. Harry also just so happens to be Louis' ex boyfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Louis has no idea why he chose to be a part of this. It was Niall’s fault, probably. It’s usually Niall’s fault. Anyway, it’s not like he can go back now as a film crew follows him into a café and waits for him to talk about his reasons for going on the show. Right now he’s drawing a blank because he can’t think of anything he wants to do less than get naked on TV. Having six naked men who all apparently have attributes Louis typically looks for in a partner to choose from will be nice, but Louis does have his reservations about his own body being out there for all to see. At least he has a good bum, he supposes. 

“I’ve er- well I’ve tried all the dating sites and stuff and you just don’t get a good idea of what they’re really like do ya? I think I’m just having a lot of trouble meeting men who want more than a casual hook up and I’m hoping that maybe this more unconventional format is what I need.” Louis tells them eventually, and it’s true. 

Niall’s talking to the camera now, saying that Louis’ been single for too long and he’s tired of hearing him whine about how he he’s going to die alone. 

Filming for the first section is over within another ten minutes, and Louis and Niall happily stroll back to Louis’ flat. In just two days he’ll be heading to the studio and baring all for all to see. Fantastic. 

It’s not even that Louis has never been naked in front of a crowd before. He’d been in the National Theatre’s ‘Paradise Lost’ just two years ago, and he’d done regular life modelling slots to help cover his living costs back when he was at Drama school. He supposes his issue is probably just that it’s just that it’s one thing being naked live but it’s another being naked on camera. There’s a certain transience to nudity when it’s performed live and only recorded in pencil, he supposes. It’s a different kind of nudity to the flat, unchangeable kind that the camera forces. 

“Look at it this way, though, you’re probably at your peak so now’s probably the best time to get yourself filmed in HD. Only downhill from here, my friend!” Niall says cheerfully from Louis’ breakfast bar as Louis tries to explain this. Louis almost pours a bag of freshly popped popcorn on his head.

“Cheers Niall, I really wanted to be told that soon my body will start decaying.” Louis sulks, half serious, half teasing.

“That’s not what I mean! I just mean that you look the best you’ve ever looked and that you’re nearing thirty so-” Niall scrambles frantically.

“Niall, you’re digging yourself into a hole here and if you don’t stop I am going to steal the shovel and bury you completely.” 

“Okay I’ll shut up. Would it make you feel better if I tell you you’re probably the best looking lad I know regardless and that if I was going to do a man I’d want to do you?”

“That helps a bit. Praise my arse and I might even make you a cup of tea.” 

“Louis Tomlinson you have the most beautiful arse in the whole of the UK and probably also the world.”

“Ahh thanks Niall, carry on like that and I might even let you touch it.” Louis says graciously, walking up to Niall and flicking his nose.

“Well there’s a thought!” Niall laughs, throwing a box of tissues at Louis’s head.

 

-

 

It’s the day of filming and Louis’ already had a nice talk about penises with Anna Richardson and has shared his own nerves over going naked himself later on in the show. She tells him that he’s about to be shown the lower half of the six men’s bodies and Louis takes a deep breath as he feels a jolt of anticipation.

The screens of the coloured boxes start going up slowly and Louis lets his eyes slowly scan them all. The scanning stops when he gets to the green box, though.

It’s just… It’s just that Louis recognises those feet, he thinks. And those long legs. And the thighs, too. And… okay, yeah, he definitely recognises the cock. 

Louis’ first boyfriend is in the green box. He’s sure of it. Fuck.

Before he’s asked to say anything, Louis has a slight crisis. He’s not sure whether to say something about recognising Harry or not. At this point, Harry will know exactly who he is too having heard his voice and the fact that his name is Louis and he’s twenty-seven. There’s no way he can get through the whole show pretending not to know Harry, it’s just the question of how long he can pretend not to know the man belonging to the body in the green box for. 

Louis finally tears his eyes away from Harry, from studying the tattoos that have found their way onto it in the… in the almost ten years since Louis saw him last. Ten years. Wow. Louis looks briefly at the other men, Red has an intimidatingly large penis, Yellow has legs that are completely covered in thick black hair, Orange has a penis that’s definitely smaller than average, Pink has definitely overdone the spray tan, and Blue appears to be even shorter than Louis. 

“So any initial thoughts?” Anna asks him eventually.

“Yes, um… I’m very intrigued to read the words written on Green’s feet.” Louis tells her, he really is wondering what Harry has gone and tattooed on his feet. 

“Let’s have a look then!” Anna says enthusiastically, gesturing for him to follow her to get a closer look. 

“’Never gonna’ and ‘dance again’ Never gonna dance again! Love a bit of George Michael!” Louis chuckles, genuinely quite entertained.

“I wonder if Green has guilty feet then, hmmm?” Anna comments. “And what’s that on his toe?”

“Big. Wow, I think Green’s a lover of puns then!” Louis says like he doesn’t know that already. 

“That a turn on for you? Or a turn off?” 

“A sense of humour is always a must!” Louis tells her, trying not to think about just how many nights he and Harry had spent sitting on his bedroom floor telling each other shit jokes and drinking fizzy Ribena between kisses.

“Anyone else caught your attention?” Anna asks, clearly ready for them to move on to another coloured box. Louis wishes they didn’t have to.

“Yellow!” Louis says, knowing that now is not the right time to give away the details of his and Harry’s history with each other. As far as everyone other than them is aware, he’s just a random willy and pair of legs in a green box.

“What about yellow?”

“He’s very umm, he’s very hairy!” Louis says.

“That not your thing?”

“Well I’ve never been with a man with legs that hairy, but I don’t think it would be a problem.” Louis says. 

Louis next goes and gets a closer look at Red’s large penis.

“Bit intimidating?” Anna asks. Louis isn’t sure what to say next. The thing is, he already knows he’s going to pick Harry at the end so it doesn’t really matter what he does and says now. He doesn’t want to be mean, though, he definitely doesn’t want to say anything nasty about the men he won’t be choosing.

“Yeah, I mean… lube saves lives and I don’t really have a gag reflex but um- did I really just say that?” Louis blushes, slightly flustered. He isn’t really bothered, though. 

When it’s time to decide which man to eliminate, Louis goes for hairy legged yellow man. When he steps out of the box, Louis is pleasantly surprised to note that he’s quite fit. Nothing on Harry, obviously, but fit regardless. He feigns disappointment at having got rid of a man so handsome, and then turns to Anna and waits for the next round to start.

Torsos are revealed and yet again Louis can’t help but focus almost exclusively on Harry and his green box. He has more tattoos on his arms and chest and Louis’ glad to see all four nipples are very much in tact. His curls now go down past his shoulders and he has a lot of muscle definition, Louis can’t get over how grown up the boy he fell in love with is now.

There’s so much Louis wants to say to Harry. He wants to know how the last eight and a half years have treated him, where he’s living now, what exactly made him decide to come on this naked dating show… whether he ever thinks about Louis. He assumes Harry’s okay with this, as if he wasn’t he could probably have opted out the moment he’d heard Louis’ voice. It’s because of this that Louis is quite excited. He’s going to have a catch-up with someone who had once been his favourite person in the whole world. 

Louis decides to offer his attention to Blue, Pink and Orange this time. He comments on Pink’s six pack, Orange’s pierced nipple, and Blue’s pecs. This time, Louis eliminates Pink. His excuse is that he’d feel inadequate in comparison but really it’s just that Pink was the first colour to come into his head when asked who he found least attractive out of the remaining men.

Next, it’s time for the faces to be revealed. 

Louis isn’t sure exactly how this thing with Harry’s going to work once he can see his face. First of all, he’ll probably almost cry because he missed Harry so much and Harry is a beautiful person and he was his best friend as well as his boyfriend. Second of all, he knows that Harry has a truly awful poker face, so even if he is also trying to put off revealing the whole ‘we were a couple!’ thing, he probably won’t do a very good job. 

Harry’s grown into the most beautiful man in the world. Louis has maybe stopped breathing. Harry notices how overwhelmed Louis is and gives him the most beautiful smile in the world. Louis remembers suddenly how their friends at the time had always said it was Harry’s ‘Louis face’ and he gets butterflies in his tummy. 

“Green has a really great smile. Look at those dimples!” Louis can’t help but comment, and then he looks at Harry and tries to communicate with his eyes that he’s not going to bring up their past until the next round. Louis isn’t sure if he’s imagining it but Harry seems to nod almost imperceptibly.

Louis says goodbye to Red and his monster cock this round. His face wasn’t very nice anyway, and the reason Louis gives is that he didn’t feel the same connection with Red as he did with the others. It’s not strictly true, considering he only feels he has a connection with one of the naked men in coloured boxes, but what Red doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

“Okay Louis, now you’re about to hear your suitors speak! Any guesses as to what their voices might sound like?” Anna asks.

“I think Blue is Irish,” Louis decides.

“What makes you say that?”

“Just a feeling. I have a blond friend who’s Irish so maybe it’s a thing or something?” Louis is talking nonsense but he doesn’t really care. He’s about to talk to Harry for he first time in eight and a half years.

“Alright then, Blue, will you tell us your favourite thing and your least favourite thing about your body?” Anna asks, addressing the very petite man in the blue box.

“My favourite thing about my body is probably my bum. My least favourite thing is probably my height!” Blue tells them in a fairly appealing Geordie accent. Louis sighs internally because now he’ll feel guilty if his reason for eliminating Blue is his height. He can go to the final round with Harry, then. Less need to give an excuse.

Louis decides to get Orange’s voice out the way before he moves on to Harry. When he gets to Harry he’ll spill the beans about how they already know each other.

Louis decides that Orange has a posh voice and is proved to be quite correct. This is good, now Louis can pretend he just feels too common to go out with someone like Orange. That’s a nice, painless, non-reason to eliminate him from the final. 

“And finally, we come to Green. Any thoughts?”

“Well, I wasn’t sure when exactly to tell you this but I actually already know what Green’s voice sounds like… because I already know Green!” Louis says, giving Harry a big smile that Harry returns, making Louis’ heart beat ridiculously fast. Suddenly he;s reminded of that quote thingy he’s seen on the internet a couple of times: ‘what if the one who got away came back?’… maybe that’s what might happen here.

“You know each other?” Anna asks, surprised. Harry and Louis both nod.

“Yeah we um, we actually used to be together. He was my first boyfriend, first love and all that.” Louis says, blushing slightly. His voice has gone a little quieter and he’s shocked to feel himself tearing up ever so slightly. He feels… he feels really emotional. Really stripped bare already, and vulnerable too. 

“Oh! Well that is interesting. It’s also interesting that you didn’t get rid of him the moment you identified him and that he didn’t walk out when he heard your voice!” Anna says, and Louis’ momentarily annoyed at her for stating the obvious in such a pointless way.

“Yeah. Um, anyway, his voice is deep and slightly northern.” Louis says.

“It is, yeah,” Harry agrees, speaking up finally, and sounding oddly choked as well. Louis can’t remember ever hearing a more beautiful sound. He can’t believe how much he’s missed Harry. Harry and his beautiful face and his silly laugh and his magnetic personality and his loveliness and his dimples and his curls and his… and his everything. Louis hasn’t thought of Harry all that much over the last few years, but everything is all flooding back to him and he knows it’s stupid because it’s been nearly ten years and… and Harry’s speaking again so Louis listens, “I’m- I’m actually really confident in my body, so my favourite part is everything and my least favourite part is nothing!”

Louis sort of wants to cry and clap because he remembers how insecure Harry had once been, how shy he’d been once about even taking his top off in front of him. It’s wonderful seeing how he seems to have grown into his always exquisitely beautiful self. 

“That’s great to hear!” Anna comments. “Alrighty then Louis, time for you to decide which of these lovely men you’ll be saying goodbye to now!”

Louis says goodbye to Orange, and then it’s time for him to get naked himself. 

Changing in a dressing room, Louis looks in the mirror and panics for a moment that Harry might not find him attractive any more. Then he tells himself he needs to get it together and that even if Harry doesn’t fancy him anymore, he can at least be his friend again. 

All worries about Harry not fancying him any more go away the moment Louis walks back out into the studio wearing nothing. Louis knows that face, knows how Harry looks when he sees something he likes. 

“Boys, any thoughts on Louis?” Anna asks Harry and Blue.

Louis doesn’t really listen to what Blue has to say, too intent on looking at Harry and how beautiful he is. He listens when it’s Harry’s turn to speak, though.

“I think he’s got even more beautiful since I saw him naked last.” Harry tells Anna, looking at Louis the whole time. Louis feels himself blush again. 

“And when was that?” Anna asks them.

“We last saw each other when we were eighteen. We both went away for uni to like different ends of the country and then my family moved away from our hometown and the distance got to be too much and like, we were young and not ready and like, yeah. We didn’t stay in touch because it hurt too much… at least that was my reason, anyway. That’s it really, right Lou?” Harry explains, looking at Louis so gently Louis thinks he might cry.

It’s just… it’s just that Harry calling him Lou takes him back so much and makes him feel so many things. It’s just that Harry has this way of making things make sense. It’s just that Louis had spent two years after their break up trying to piece together what had gone wrong, looking for something under the surface or whatever and yet… and yet it really was as simple as Harry had said. It just hadn’t worked out because they were young and too far away from each other and staying friends but not being together would have broken both of their hearts even more. 

“Yeah, that’s it. I can’t believe I’m seeing him again, to be honest!” Louis says to Anna.

When they get to the part where Louis has to pick which man he wants to take on a date, it’s clear to everyone in the studio who Louis’ going to pick.

“Harry.” Louis says, looking at him and seeing the way his eyes light up and his smile gets even wider. 

Louis says goodbye to Blue (he never did learn his actual name, oops!) and then Harry’s in his arms. They embrace for probably longer than they’re supposed to, but Louis doesn’t really care. He has his boy back.

 

ONE MONTH LATER

“Okay so like we practiced it this morning, yeah?” Louis says to harry, kissing him on the nose as the two of them get ready to go out and have a mini interview about what happened after their date. 

“Yeah, alright. I can’t believe you made us rehearse how we would sit on the sofa together!” Harry exclaims.

“Reality TV is all a performance, Harold. Of course, the world’s a stage and-”

“Fuck off Shakespeare, they want us on now.”

“Oh, alright,” Louis sighs, “Quick kiss for luck?”

“Always,” Harry agrees, leaning down and gently kissing Louis on the lips.

Louis looks up when Harry pulls away. He’s slightly dazed. Everything about Harry leaves him slightly dazed still. They’ve been back together for a month and Louis keeps having to pinch himself to believe it’s all really happening. Harry is… Harry is the most wonderful human being, and the two of them are still as ridiculously compatible as they had been when they were teenagers. All that’s changed now is that they’re living in the same city and they’re proper adults now. Everything’s kind of just fallen into place and Louis is the happiest he’s ever been.

Louis’ knees are touching Harry’s as they sit side by side on the sofa and someone off camera asks them how their date had gone. Louis can’t remember the lines he’d planned but that doesn’t really matter because he can speak from the heart. 

“It was like… I don’t know how to describe it other than to say it was like the relationship we’d had all those years ago had never ended. We just reconnected to quickly and so easily and everything just kind of made sense. It felt right, didn’t it?” Louis says, looking at Harry and twisting one of his ringlets around a finger. 

“So right,” Harry agrees. 

“Any more dates?”

“We go on dates pretty much every other day now. Most of the time when we’re not working, we’re together.” Harry says, grinning and kissing Louis on the nose.

“Anything to say about naked dating, Louis?”

“Well um… I don’t think I’m really the best person to tell you to be honest because the moment I saw Harry’s weird feet again I knew what my decision was going to be! That said, it’s definitely a very unique way of meeting people, and being naked before the date must, I am sure, take a lot of the awkwardness out of the whole thing!” 

The interview ends and then Harry and Louis leave the studio together, hand in hand.


	2. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Three months later, Harry and Louis watch their Naked Attraction episode together.)

 

Harry is running late and he’s trying not to stress too much about it. He’d had to stay an hour longer than planned at work, and so now he’s having to rush to meet Louis from rehearsal without having had the chance to shower and get ready for their date tonight. He doesn’t look bad, really, just still in work mode and so a little bit frazzled and frizzier than he’d like to be. Louis won’t mind, though. That thought almost completely removes the tension Harry’s been feeling for the last hour and a half. Louis won’t mind. Louis will still kiss him gently and smile at him and be pleased to see him.

 

Harry loves Louis.

 

They’ve said it already. Exchanging ‘I love you’ had happened on something ridiculous like their second week of being back together. It’s been over three months now, and Harry thinks he maybe falls more and more in love with Louis every day. They’d been together for nearly two years as teenagers, and so Harry knows from experience that that loving Louis is something that can and will only intensify with time.

 

Harry isn’t sure whether it’s more accurate to say that Louis’ grown up into the most lovely human being or that he never stopped being the most lovely human being. It’s strange, really, because absolutely nothing has changed. He’s Louis still. Loud, funny, vibrant, soft, sweet, strong, brave, and so so kind and gentle. He’s the exact same boy Harry fell in love with, and Harry can’t quite believe that he spent as many years as he did not being in love with Louis. He wonders, though, if he ever had fallen out of love with him; maybe a part of him had always known they’d find their way back to each other. Maybe that was why Harry hadn’t really had a serious relationship with anyone else.

 

Harry’s heart does a little flip when he sees Louis emerge, walking down the building’s steps to meet him.

 

“Hiya darling,” Louis says softly, kissing Harry gently on the cheek and taking his hand. Harry feels himself start to relax for the first time all day. He’s not sure how Louis does it, how he can be both the most entertaining and dynamic person in the world at the same time as having such a calming presence.

 

“Hi baby. Good rehearsal?” Harry asks, interlacing their fingers.

 

“Great rehearsal, thanks.” Louis replies, then pauses to look at Harry for a moment, “Your day wasn’t so good though?”

 

It’s been long enough now that Harry isn’t all that surprised to see Louis pick up on even the smallest amount of tension or unease. He just seems to know, and Harry knows what that’s like because he’s been finding himself more and more sensitive and attuned to Louis too. Maybe it’s a little bit out of the ordinary to be so connected with a partner after such a relatively short amount of time being together, but that’s the way it seems to be, and Harry loves it.

 

“Hmm, just really busy. Didn’t have time to go home to get ready to see you and I just feel a bit messy and overwhelmed is all.” Harry explains, trying not to sound too whiny.

 

“Let’s stay in tonight then, yeah?” Louis suggests, and on one hand this is exactly what Harry wants but on the other hand he doesn’t want to deprive Louis of the meal out he knows he was looking forward to.

 

“Are you sure? I know you really wanted Chinese and…”

 

“And we can get a Chinese takeaway on our way to mine, then we can eat it, and then I can run you a bath and we can get you nice and relaxed and slightly wine drunk in time for us to watch our naked reunion on telly.” Louis says gently, running a hand through Harry’s curls. Harry moves with his hand like a cat being stroked.

 

“I love you,” Harry says.

 

“I love you too.” Louis replies, reaching up to kiss Harry’s forehead.

 

They walk through town and to their favourite Chinese restaurant hand in hand, Louis making Harry giggle telling him all the latest gossip from behind the scenes of his current play.

 

 

-

 

 

It’s nine and Harry thinks he’s maybe more in love than ever. Louis just brought him a glass of wine in the bath he’d run for him. Harry is surrounded by sparkly purple bubbles, sipping cold wine, and talking to Louis as he sits on the bathroom floor with his back against the bath reading their horoscopes aloud from a crappy magazine. Apparently he and every other Aquarius is going to meet an attractive stranger on public transport this week, and a new opportunity will present itself to him and he should be open to any and all possibilities.

 

“Hmm, well I don’t really need to meet an attractive stranger thank you.” Harry muses.

 

“Oh really? Why’s that then?” Louis teases. Harry scoops some bubbles out of the bath and places them on Louis’ head in response.

 

Louis giggles, and then turns around and takes some more bubbles to give Harry a very fetching lilac bubble beard. They have a very giggly, half-hearted bubble fight until they catch sight of themselves in the mirror looking so ridiculous that they just have to take a quick selfie. Louis looks at the selfie and immediately loves it.

 

“Your bits are covered up here Haz, wanna instagram this after the show later?” Louis asks Harry, as he gets a fluffy towel from the towel rail to pass him as he stands to get out the bath.

 

“Everyone’s seen my bits anyway, sure.” Harry shrugs, standing in all his nakedness on the bath mat before accepting the towel from Louis.

 

“Only I’m allowed to see your bits now.” Louis says

 

“Can we stop calling it my bits now please?”

 

“Okay, sorry Harry’s willy.”

 

“Harry’s willy forgives you.”

 

“That’s good, I happen to be rather fond of Harry’s willy.”

 

“Harry’s willy is rather fond of you too.”

 

 

-

 

 

It’s strange watching it happen on TV. Strange in a good way. Harry grins when he sees on-screen Louis quickly recognise him from his lower half in his green box and tries to be subtle about it. He doesn’t think he’ll ever forget the way he’d felt not ten minutes before that, when he’d realised that Louis was the contestant choosing from the six boxed men.

 

Harry remembers how the first thing he’d heard was that the man was called Louis, and immediately memories of Louis, his first love, had come flooding back to him. He’d wondered if this other man called Louis was as remarkable as the Louis from his past and he’d known that that was impossible, that no other Louis would ever be able to hold a candle to _his_ Louis. And then he’d heard the age- the fact that this Louis was also twenty seven. Just like Harry, just like his first boyfriend Louis would be too. That was when Harry had started letting himself hope, letting himself wonder.

 

And then he’d heard Louis’ voice. Louis’ beautiful, lovely voice. Louis’ beautiful, lovely self was right there in the studio no more than a few metres away. It was Louis.

 

Part of Harry had been so tempted to just walk out of the box there and then and into Louis’ arms. He’d made himself try to calm down and be patient, though, knowing that no matter what he would be seeing Louis face to face at some point within the next half hour.

 

“I’m so glad we both tried naked dating.” Harry tells Louis, moving so he’s lying with his head in Louis’ lap.

 

“Me too, baby.” Louis replies, leaning down and kissing Harry on the lips. Harry returns the kiss, then turns his head back towards the TV, sighing in contentment as Louis plays with his hair and they watch their TV selves get round after round closer to being properly reunited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just felt like this fic needed something a little extra, so I wrote this Harry POV epilogue. I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
>  
> 
> Tumblr: http://illouminating.tumblr.com
> 
> http://illouminating.tumblr.com/post/149296154165/naked-attraction-33k-by-glitterlarries-me

**Author's Note:**

> Title is just the title of the TV show that this is about. I was watching it and just thinking about how there needs to be a Larry AU so I wrote it. This is maybe even worse than my Gogglebox one, but I don't care. Channel 4 just keep providing me with prompts don't they?!
> 
> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed xxx
> 
>  
> 
> http://illouminating.tumblr.com
> 
> and the tumblr post for this fic is: http://illouminating.tumblr.com/post/149313697270/illouminating-naked-attraction-33k-by
> 
> (if anyone wants to teach me how to do proper link things (hyperlinks?) here it would be much appreciated!)


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